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October 2010

Future historians may well agree that the 21st century Silk Road first opened for business on December 14, 2009. That was the day a crucial stretch of pipeline officially went into operation, linking the fabulously energy-rich state of Turkmenistan (via Kazakhstan and Uzbekistan) to Xinjiang province in China's far west.

CHINA is an expanding power in South Asia. That is the real significance of the news that it may build a new nuclear reactor in Pakistan without the approval of the International Atomic Energy Agency or the Nuclear Suppliers Group, and also of the earlier stories about the presence of Chinese troops in the Pakistani half of Kashmir.

George Fernandes, Defence Minister in Atal Bihari Vajpayee’s government, was bang on target when he famously said that it was China, not Pakistan or any other nation that was India’s biggest security threat.

Since the release of Uyghur democracy leader Rebiya Kadeer from a Chinese prison in March 2005, her worldwide efforts to promote democracy and human rights for the Uyghur people have been met with an intense campaign on the part of the Chinese authorities to persecute her family members in East Turkestan.

China plans to tighten control over Tibetan Buddhist monasteries to reduce the influence of the exiled Dalai Lama and other 'internal and external separatist forces,' according to a government notice seen on Monday.

Rebiya Kadeer discusses with Riz Khan the trials and tribulations she has faced in fighting for human rights. The leading Uighur activist and philanthropist shares her stories of yielding persistence and strength.

A new report from the Uyghur Human Rights Project (UHRP), To Strike The Strongest Blow: Questions Remain Over Crackdown On 2009 Unrest In Urumchi, details widespread human rights violations committed by the People’s Republic of China in the wake of unrest in Urumchi on July 5, 2009.